Falling Leaves

Golnaz Fathi

January 22 – March 7, 2013

Golnaz Fathi returns to The Third Line with a new body of work, Falling Leaves. Using the epic poem Shahnameh by Persian poet Ferdowsi as a point of departure, Fathi interprets the work through a contemporary lens that breathes new life into an ancient practice and story.

Her new work branches out from her usual language based approach, incorporating figurative elements as well, that were inspired from a lithographic illustration of The Shahnameh or Shah-nama (Book of Kings). This distinct departure from her original text based exploration demonstrates Fathi’s inner visual dialogue and interpretation of the poem. The artist relates to the book themes of futile wars as still relevant today in her native Iran, and in the Middle East in general – confirming the notion of history repeating itself.

Project Space: Sulook

Sahand Hesamiyan

January 22 – March 7, 2013

The Third Line is pleased to introduce Iranian sculptor Sahand Hesamiyan, the newest addition to the gallery’s represented artists. Sulook, the body of work in the gallery’s Project Space, presents ancient concepts of transcendence in an ultra-modern context. Highlighting the complex relationship between modernity and tradition through architecture, Sulook has its inspiration firmly rooted in the traditional architectural structure of the Orchin dome – a unique variation of domes found in the southern parts of Iran and Iraq. Despite its early origins, the Orchin dome demonstrates one of the key elements of modernist architecture: a seamless interdependence of aesthetics and functionality. Bridging science and piety, Hesamiyan references the construction of these domes with its intended spiritual philosophy of Unitarianism.

Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian

March 18 - April 19, 2013

The Third Line is proud to present a survey exhibition of Iranian artist Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian that reflects upon the past decade of her remarkable artistic journey. Showcasing works from 2004 to present, the exhibition highlights Monir’s stellar career as a pioneer in contemporary Iranian art.

Mapping a chronological trajectory through the different series of works that Monir completed over the past nine years, the exhibition follows the evolution of her signature style of aineh-kari mirror mosaics and her art practice of correlating mysticism with numerology, Islamic geometry and architecture also remain quintessential features within this exhibit.

Youssef Nabil, Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, Laleh Khorramian, Sherin Guirguis & Lamya Gargash

Encounter: The Royal Academy in the Middle East, Katara Cultural Village, Doha, Qatar| 5 December 2012 – 5 March 2013

Encounter: The Royal Academy in the Middle East is a group exhibition featuring over 80 works of art in a wide variety of media by 25 Royal Academicians and 25 prominent artists from across the Middle East. Eschewing the presentation of a single curatorial point of view or theme, this exhibition enters into the spirit of engagement with the international art community and the general public by inviting important artists from different countries to exhibit side-by-side with a selection of prominent Royal Academicians.

Hassan Hajjaj, Youssef Nabil, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige

Light from the Middle East: New Photography, Victoria & Albert Museum, London| November 13 2012 – April 7, 2013

The first major exhibition of contemporary photography from and about the Middle East, Light from the Middle East: New Photography features over 90 works by some of the most exciting artists from across the region. The exhibition covers a wide range of techniques and subject matter, from journalism as evident in the works of Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, staged narratives, montage such as Hassan Hajjaj's portraits and fine art practice represented in the works of Youssef Nabil. Works featured are part of the Art Fund Collection of Middle Eastern Photography at the V&A and the British Museum.

Slavs and Tatars

Frozen Lakes, Artists Space, New York | January 20, 2013 – March 24, 2013

Slavs and Tatars are proud to present their first sound piece, Samizabt (You Who Wronged), a translation into Persian from the Polish and recital of a poem by Nobel Prize-winner Czesław Miłosz. The newest installment in S&T's Friendship of Nations cycle, Samizabt shares the best practices of Poland's dissident poetry with an Islamic Republic in a period of Soldiarność-era stagnation, and has been commissioned by Artists Space for Frozen Lakes, an exhibition curated by Richard Birkett and Stefan Kalmár, exploring the contemporary legacy of framing, circulation, and quotation addressed in Douglas Crimp's influential Pictures essay in 1977/79.

Friendship of Nations: Polish Sh’ite Showbiz, REDCAT, Los Angeles, California | February 9 – March 24, 2013

Making its US début in Los Angeles at REDCAT, Friendship of Nations: Polish Shi'ite Showbiz, curated by Aram Moshayedi, explores the unlikely common histories of Poland and Iran, from 17th Sarmatism to the early 21st century. From shared Catholic and Shi'a crafts traditions to publications, billboards and sculptures, Friendship of Nations is the heart of a multi-platform look at the two countries' quest for self-determination, which includes for the LA installment two lectures, a presentation of an archive at the Central Public Library and participation in a group show at Kordansky gallery.

Nouveau Festival, Centre Pompidou, Paris | February 20 – March 11, 2013

Slavs and Tatars' Khhhhhhh has lent its name as well as its pages, carpet, and river-bed to one section of this year's Nouveau Festival, a whirlwind of exhibitions, performances, and interventions dedicated to imaginary languages, under the art direction of Bernard Blistène. In early March Slavs and Tatars will be presenting the newest of their lectuer-performance Al-Isnad or Chains We Can Believe In during Book Machine, curated by Onestar Press.

Ebtisam Abdulaziz

The 31st Annual Exhibition of the Emirates Fine Arts Society, Sharjah Art Museum | February 6 – April 6, 2013

Ebtisam Abdulaziz presents a new video work titled Night Shadows at the 31st Annual Exhibition of Emirates Fine Arts Society. Night Shadows is Abdulaziz exploration into capturing the soul or essence of abstraction as a means to capture the fine line between existence and non existence.

The Emirates Fine Arts Society continues with its specialized major events in the field of visual arts with the goal of creating positive impacts towards upgrading the status of Emirati art. The Society will hold its 31st Annual Public Exhibition under the Patronage of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qassimi, Member of the Federation Supreme Council, and Ruler of Sharjah.

Laleh Khorramian

Videonale 14: Festival For Contemporary Video Art, Kunstmuseum, Bonn |February 15 until 7 April 2013

Starting 1984, the Videonale association in Bonn started organizing an international festival and competition for video art every two years. This year's Videonale revolves around the investigation of private histories and collective memories, crossing the boundaries between reality and fiction in order to examine the subject of a story from multiple perspectives. Laleh Khorramian has been selected from several hundreds of artist submissions to show in this year's festival where she will be presenting her video Water Panics in the Sea (2011).

Youssef Nabil

Under Influences, La Maison Rouge, Paris | February 15 – May 19, 2013

Youssef Nabil presents his seminal work Natacha Fume le Narguile, Cairo 2000 in a group exhibition titled Under Influences in La Maison Rouge this February. Curated by Antoine Perpère the exhibition features artworks, documents, and films addressing the relationship between the visual art and psychotropics. With the aim of promoting different facets of contemporary expression in independently curated exhibitions, La Maison Rouge explores diversity of contemporary artistic experimentation and expression, often by way of major international private collections.

Amir H. Fallah

Architectural Inventions: Visionary Drawings, Publication

Amir H. Fallah's work is featured in a new 600-page book entitled Architectural Inventions: Visionary Drawings compiled and written by Matt Bua and Maximillian Goldfarb.
Born out of the drawingbuilding.org online archive, Architectural Inventions presents a visual study of impossible or speculative structures that exist only on paper. Soliciting the work of architects, designers, and artists of renown, Goldfarb and Bua have gathered an array of works that convey architectural alternatives, through products, expansions, or critiques of our inhabited environments.

AVAILABLE AT THE THIRD LINE

Cosmic Geometry by Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian

Published by DAMIANI and The Third Line, Cosmic Geometry is an in-depth comprehensive monograph of the life and work of artist Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian.
This extensive overview edited by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Karen Marta, includes 256 pages of illustrations highlighting Farmanfarmaian’s vast repertoire including texts and tributes by Hans
Ulrich Obrist, Nader Ardalan, Media Farzin, Eleanor Sims, Etel Adnan, Siah Armajani,caraballo-farman, Golnaz Fathi, Hadi Hazavei, Susan Hefuna, Aziz Isham, Rose Issa, Faryar Javaherian, Abbas Kiarostami, Shirin Neshat, Donna Stein, Frank Stella, Nader Ardalan, Laleh Bakhtiar and Negar Azimi.